Hungarian band gets audience hopping

Little Cow, a band from Hungary, is a “gypsy, punk, ska and rock band,” said Ben Yonas, the band’s producer.

Little Cow will play this Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Plaza Mayor at Globalquerque, an international music festival that’s been hosted in Albuquerque for the past five years. Yonas said he decided to work with the band after seeing them perform live in New York City.

“I had no idea who they were or anything about them,” Yonas said. “I was blown away. They managed to get a couple hundred talent bookers, you know, a bunch of middle-aged people, jumping up and down like kids.”

Founded by lead singer László Kollár-Klemencz and inspired by the Hungarian cartoon series “Little Yellow Cow,” the band’s sound doesn’t follow traditional Hungarian music, said Kollár-Klemencz.

“The music is coming from Hungary, but it’s not a special Hungarian or folk or Gypsy kind of music,” Kollár-Klemencz said. “It’s just the area where we are living. We think the music is more like British punk.”

Little Cow is also likely to be a great crowd pleaser, Yonas said.

“American bands just don’t put on the same kind of show. They are just not as theatrical,” Yonas said. “They are not as interesting. They are not as dynamic.

They are not as crazy. These guys are not afraid to go for it, and they just put on an amazing show.”

Kollár-Klemencz said he enjoys touring in America because of the audience’s reaction to the band’s performance.

“In America, people really feel the beat,” he said. “They really feel the rock ’n’ roll pull. They really can dance very well because they can feel it.”

Yonas said the band’s work has no chance of being lost in translation.

“I think the barriers between overseas and domestic music are kind of shattered with the Internet,” Yonas said. “There are no barriers now, so music is just music. They just have their own sound whether they are foreign or American.”

Globalquerque is back for a fifth year to celebrate smashing international borders in the musical community. The concerts take place at the National Hispanic Cultural Center this Friday and Saturday. Bands come from India, Ghana, Spain and other countries around the world. Expect more coverage in this Thursday’s culture section.